STipe Therapeutics (STipe), a company with a novel approach to leverage the STimulator of INterferon Genes (STING) Pathway, a major driver of the innate immune response, by a unique sensitization mechanism, today announced the strengthening of its leadership team with the appointment of Dr Richard Sainson as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO), effective June 6, 2022. He will be based in Aarhus, Denmark and report to Dr Claus Olesen, STipe’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO). As CSO, Dr Sainson will lead the research and advancement of the Company’s innovative science and platform technology.
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“We are making rapid progress towards the clinic, naming our first clinical candidate at the end of last year, with the expectation of dosing our first patient at the beginning of 2023. Our lead compound modulates the STING pathway in a novel way and we expect it to be effective as both a stand-alone and as a combination therapy,” said Claus Olesen, STipe’s CEO. “I am delighted to welcome Richard, who will play a vital role in shaping and driving a scientific strategy where our differentiated capabilities allow us to address unmet needs and create transformative treatments for patients.”
“I am excited by the potential I see in STipe’s scientific and platform technology, including the way it effectively modulates the STING pathway, thereby changing the tumor microenvironment and demonstrating anti-tumor activity,” added Richard Sainson. “I look forward to applying my experience and expertise to harness these strengths and to addressing the unmet needs of patients.”
Richard Sainson has over 20 years of oncology research experience acquired both in academia and industry. He joins STipe from F-star Therapeutics where he served as VP in translational development and managed the preclinical and clinical translational science and biomarker efforts of the company’s late stage assets. Prior to that he served in a number of roles at Kymab Ltd, acquired by Sanofi in April 2021, most recently as Senior Director Translational Medicine. Richard has also held roles with increasing responsibility at Astex Pharmaceuticals and Medimmune/AstraZeneca. He has expertise in multiple fields of cancer biology, including immunooncology and tumor microenvironment biology and in drug development, including immunotherapy, translational sciences and in vivo pharmacology, and has authored/co-authored a number of publications across these fields. Richard earned a masters in cellular and molecular biology from the Université Pierre et Marie Curie and a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Leeds and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of California Irvine and the University of Oxford.